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back to article Fraunhofer boffins tout new 'diamondballs' mech tech

German boffins at the famed Fraunhofer Institutes - developers of mp3 audio compression, among other things - are now working on another critical technology. To wit: bearings covered in ultrahard coatings of artificial diamond. A plastic bearing cage, coated in artificial diamond by the Fraunhofer IWM Slick as ice. The …

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  1. Max Lange
    Thumb Up

    Oooh yeah!

    I'll have that diamond-bearing bike please! Nothing like it to make an impression on the roads these days. Beats a Tesla every time.

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  2. Gordon Edge

    DLC

    DLC is almost certainly diamond like carbon and not diamond like coating. This is a technology that has been around for donkey's years and is in wide use. It has even been used for example to coat loudspeaker radiators (tweeters) as it increases the bandwidth to beyond 40Khz in a typical design.

    Probably Fraunhofer are looking for fundiing!

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  3. Disco-Legend-Zeke
    Paris Hilton

    This would really be great on lenses.

    Just a scratchproof layer on glasses, cameras, etc.

    Paris because i just applied to be in her new TV show.

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  4. amanfromMars Silver badge
    Pirate

    Germany Calling ?

    "It would seem that for now a diamondball-bearing, while better than a soft golden one, might cost at least as much."

    Or be worth as much? A Nice Little Earner that Trick ..... MetaPhysicians' Spell ... MkUltraSensitive MAJIC.

    Crikey .... where's there a John le Carré to Capture the Chronicle of ReActions to Future HyperRadioProActivity . An Author Laureate?

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  5. Joe User

    "Diamondballs"?

    Is that the title of the next James Bond movie?

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Becks new name ?

    diamondballs

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Suitable coating

    for fugu 'nads then - stops you dieing if it just goes through your system.

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  8. Warhelmet

    Air Bearings? Liquid Bearings? Magnetic Bearings?

    And don't forget the other types of lubrication...

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  9. Steve Roper
    Coat

    Now all they need

    is to find a way to make these super hard-wearing bearings break down within two days of warranty expiration and they're all set for the consumer goods market...

    Mine's the diamond one designed to fall to bits 15 seconds after I leave the pub, ta.

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  10. foo_bar_baz

    German tech news

    A boon for the reg, every time. Stereotypes FTW, who cares if it's old tech.

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  11. Sacha TF Padovani
    Boffin

    Any recent Suzuki GSX-R has it..

    DLC and TiN (Titanium Nitride) coating is widely used to prevent stiction and reduce friction in high end (but quite common now) sports bike's fork tubes.

    I guess the clever bit is coating a very small bearing...

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  12. Chris Fleming

    Disco...

    Have diamond coated glass on our POS Grocery scanners. After 10 years of use you can barely see a scratch on the glass.

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  13. Kanhef
    Boffin

    @Disco-Legend-Zeke

    Diamond has one of the highest indices of refraction known to mankind. It might work as a scratchproof coding, but you'd need to change the shape of the base lens to take that into account.

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